UK Denies Entry to Cenk Uygur Over Criticism of Israel

The UK authorities have denied The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur entry into the country days ahead of two events where he was due to speak – apparently over his repeated criticism of Israel. Uygur’s nephew, Hasan Piker, who is a left-wing political streamer in his own right, has said his British visa has also been revoked “at the behest of Israel.”

On multiple occasions over the past few years, pro-Palestinian activists have accused the UK’s Labour government led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer of suppressing anything deemed too critical of Israel.

In a Monday X post, Uygur wrote that he’d been “banned from the UK… for criticizing Israel.”

“Are we free anymore? This is oppression of Western citizens by our own governments on behalf of a different country!” The Young Turks host added.

According to The Times, UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood cancelled Uygur’s electronic travel authorization (ETA) last week.

The US host and left-wing political commentator had been scheduled to appear at the SXSW festival in London on Thursday, as well as at an event in Oxford the following day.

Uygur’s nephew, Piker, had also been booked to speak at the SXSW event in the British capital. Commenting on the entry bans, he wrote on X that the “West is betraying ‘liberal values’ for a genocidal fascist foreign government.”

Both Uygur and Piker have repeatedly described Israel’s military campaign in Gaza against Hamas as “genocide.”

UK Green Party leader Zack Polanski accused the UK’s Labour government of “doing everything possible to silence criticism of the Israeli Government.”

Earlier this month, a UK court convicted four members of the pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action over a 2024 raid on an Israeli-linked defense facility in Bristol, with sentencing expected in mid-June.

The British government has been widely criticized for its use of anti-terror legislation to strangle reporting on the case. The activist group itself was proscribed as a terrorist entity last July.

Meanwhile, former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was expelled from the party in 2024 over alleged failure to address anti-Semitism, has expressed support for Palestine Action.